Abstract [en]

The aim of this study was to analyze the assessment of the national tests seen from the teacher’s perspective. The national tests are performed in the Swedish school, classes 3, 5, 9, and the upper secondary school (gymnasiet). There has been an ongoing discussion regarding assessment and grading for a long time and it is of high interest now more than ever. The last control assessment done in 2009 by the department of school inspections on the order of the Swedish government, showed big differences between the assessments done by the teachers, and the assessments completed by the department of school inspections. In order to get a good picture of how the teachers are experiencing the execution and assessment of the national tests we interviewed six teachers from the classes that are performing the test. The questions that this study is based on are:

Do the interviewed teachers experience that the basis for assessing the national test is at risk for arbitrary interpretation and hence become unjust and misjudged?

Is the professional role of the teacher influenced by the results the students are getting on the national tests?

Do the interviewed teachers experience pressure from the head of the school that the students are expected to grade high at the national tests?

Lev S Vygotskij, John Dewey, and Howard Gardner have in their research influenced large parts of the daily activity in the Swedish schools. By studying children’s development they suggest several approaches for the students to develop their skills. Korp discuss in hers thesis the inequity that many times occurs in the assessment of the national test in Swedish schools.

The results of this study showed that the interviewed teachers were comfortable with the instructions for execution and assessment of the national test. In addition, they also were of the opinion that independent assessment could be more just. However, one issue raised against the independent assessment is that the student the does not have the option of explaining an unclear answer to a question to the assessing teacher. This would not be of benefit for the student which has also been shown in literature and research.